Added a "House Rules" section to the campaign page with the following:
[g]Group Action:[/b] The party can elect to undertake a group action (for example, for stealth). The skill's leader rolls the check, and everyone else rolls to aid another. For those that don't make the DC 10 threshold, the skill's leader adjusts their role downward by -2.
I think it works a little wonky in PBP b/c there's a lot of conversation to set things up that would happen in a matter of seconds at a table, which of course drags out.
Agree with this - BitD is 'descended' from the Powered by the Apocalypse gaming family, which expressly bills itself as a conversation among the players and the GM where you roll dice only when it really matters: there's never a point where you roll Perception/Diplomacy/Sense Motive just on the offchance it might be useful. Your dice roll always makes something happen, whether good or bad. That inevitably means every roll involves some discussion so that everyone is clear on the stakes and potential range of outcomes - and in PbP that takes up time.
Can I get some clarification on our options in the game, btw? I read your earlier post as meaning we needed to get onto the ship in order to get across to the fishery, but your latest post suggests that we can get there directly and that the boat is a distraction. If that's right, I suggest we leave the distraction alone and focus on our goal of getting into the fishery.
^ Sure and sorry for the confusion! You have a choice of going "left" (to the fishery) or "right" (to the ship). Whether or not the ship is a distraction remains to be seen.
(as a design note, I'm trying to add a little dynamic nature to things in the AP. This encounter is intended to work on a little if:then logic, so the ship may or may not be important depending on your actions. I'll go into more detail after things are resolved.)
I'll second the fishery.
My turn to have internet issues! I'll get a post up tomorrow.
Just to clarify - we have a second for going into the Fishery. Do we have a motion? (yes, we'll use Robert's Rules of Order :)
I'll uh first it then, so we have a plan :d
Yeah, if we don't need to get to the boat en route to the fishery we leave alone for now.
So, fight or talk?
If we manage to talk our way through, we wouldn't perhaps end up on the kill list of dangerous half-orc gang. Ofc, failing the talks we end up fighting anyway and have lost the element of surprise.
Anyway, my plan of nonlethal takedown in the form of sleep spell doesn't work on a surprise round.
I'd be up for trying a bluff check, blather something to try and get him to let us in further. But I have a hard time seeing how we'll get the alchemist/supplier in a quiet enough way to not alert everyone anyhow :p
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Can drop Hypnotic Stare for a -2 will save. The ability is discreet enough to drop without starting a fistfight, so might as well :)
you can escalate up to fighting if talking doesn't work, but it's very hard to go the other way round. So... does anyone have any points in social skills? Between rogue-y things and magic skills, I'm tapped out.
I loved the fact we had the option to avoid fighting there - I approve :)
Excellent! I'm hoping to provide different options for tackling problems and bring the environment into things a bit.
Of course, sometimes violence is the best answer.
It occurs to me I may not have been very clear with my description of the Principle's two guards. They are foreigners - not Bonekracks. So, Karl has no concerns about their wellbeing.
Pardon my absence - been busy sorry. Very relatedly: Happy Midsummer (the not cinema version :p) to you all :D
No worries, Kaio. I went camping - and a much needed break from things happening here - this weekend myself. So, thankfully not the cinema version of Midsummer, and with clear skies and dark skies, quite nice.
There's a couple of hiccups with our surprise round/first round actions. I'll think on ways to better communicate things when we're in theater of the mind combat, which will be most of the time. Suggestions are welcome.
Issues:
Baldy is two moves from anyone, the Principle is one move. So, Lorick can move (surprise round), move (round one move action), punch (round one standard action) as actions.
Kaio can cast daze on Stout, but can't reach the Principle. I'm not really sure how to adjudicate 5' steps with TotM, to be honest.
Lorick, Kaio, feel free to retcon if you'd like.
I'll give a day or so before botting with the following actions:
1. Lorick moves twice and punches Baldy once (we'll use the first roll of your attack).
2. Kaio dazes Stout.
Theatre of the mind is mostly just about communication, there's always glitches and misunderstandings but as long as you're happy with allowing re-writes/retcons then we should be ok :)
More importantly: am I good to post my next move?
Re 5-foot steps - mildly closer I guess :p
Re target - Stout was the safe fallback option yeah so I'm happy to daze that one :)
@Cathy, always happy to have retcons for miscommunication. With that in mind, let's wait to hear if Lorick is going to change his action. I'll move us forward tomorrow if we don't hear anything by then (I know his player is pretty busy atm).
@Kaio, sounds good!
@GM Only addition I'll make is to add a stunning first attempt. DC 13 FOrst Save I believe if 1/2 level has a min of 1. the calc is 10 + 1/2 level + 2 for wisdom modifier.
Ok, good(ish) guys and gals, excepting Lorick, are up!
Getting walloped at work will update as soon as possible.
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Hello all
Well *that* turned out to be unpleaesant. One of the ribs I broke last yuear re-broke and punctured my lung, thankfully my bf was around and drove me straight to hosipital. Trhow in a post-op infecton, some stupid-powerful antibiotics and painkillers and I'm up and about again, but stil moving slowly.
It looks like I havent msised toooo many posts, is it ok if I come back to this game GM?
Hi Sarah, yes of course, I'm glad you're on the mend. I'll work you into my next post. I intend to post today, but it is a holiday weekend here so it may not happen.
Thanks, haeva good holiday! I will wait for you to bring me back into the scene :)
Good to have you back, Sarah!
Sounds sucky :/ I hope it works out as well as it can.
We had a fire on the side of my house this morning and I'm a little shook. Thankfully no serious damage was done, and someone driving by let us know the fire was happening in time that we could put it out. Then the fire department came and checked the walls of our house, etc. At any rate, I've been a bit shook all day and only managed two short posts in any games today. I'm going to try and get back to this game tomorrow. Apologies all!
Yikes!
I'm glad that no one hurt, though.
Sounds horrendous and I'm not surprised you're shaken up by it! Hope everyone's ok.
Yikes indeed, and everyone is OK, so things could have been much worse. California is extremely dry right now and fires are no joke in this area. We had a gardening box that we used as a composting bin and was basically filled with really dried old plants, trimmed tree/bush stuff, etc. We're not sure what happened but probably a firework or ember from a nearby firepit got in there. We smelled something odd outside of my daughter's room that evening before bed and looking on the outside of the house (twice) couldn't find anything. By morning it was literally on fire.
Well, time to rethink our composting system!
Anyways, Lorick and Annalise are up!
That's rough. But glad that it seems to have been mostly fright and not "my house is gone" :)
On a note - composts can generate enough heat to self ignite. Might be worth rethinking yeah. Frequent turning are supposed to help and, I think, watering but that may be a tall order over there :p
Whoa, I did not know that! I haven't found a firework yet, so I guess I can add self ignition to the "suspects list." Watering is indeed a tall order. Our county and the state has enacted a lot of regulations and we're trying to save as much water as is possible. Rain barrels, low-flow kitchen sinks/showers/toilets, only watering plants before 9 am and after 7 pm, low-water plants (other than the garden), etc.
If Lorick and Annalise haven't posted until tomorrow I'll bot them and move forward.
Really glad that the situation just turned out to be a scare and not anything more than that GM.
Yup, get a compost bin with a lid - it doesn't jsut keep down the smell, it sotops the oxygen that would cause a fire if it gets too hot.
I'm realy glad you're all ok though!
Annalise, rules-wise, the only action with mechanical benefits one can take with intimidate in combat is demoralize, but it sounds to me like you're trying to compel or force an action here? Or is this a fluff check, or are you trying to demoralize? I just want to double check that demoralize isn't your intent before I post.
In general, I am flexible on this one minute + rule for other actions with social skills (like compel) if it is within the target's nature and is likely an action that the target would do anyways. This is not that case, unfortunately.
OK, i was hoping he'd give up now that the oddes are stacked against him but if he's not going to give up then I'll go for a demorolise action
Thanks, Annalise. The demoralize was the difference between him failing the sleep spell's will save or not.
Combat over. You've got three captured bad guys. What do you do?
Just a reminder, since it has been a beat:
"So, when their operation opens up for business at 7 o clock tonight, you're going to waltz in and shut him down. Don't care how. Open him up if you have to. And his cronies. But." He waves a finger at you all. "Those addicts there are my property. I won't have them harmed, understand? Bad for business if you hurt your customers."
"Oh yeah. One more thing. The drugs he's put together. Dump 'em in the river. Destroy his lab. Don't want anyone getting their hands on his stuff and getting ideas. Except..."
Staring again at Darius, Lamm considers you again, as if an idea has just come to him. "You, Darius Radulescu, will take a sample, and figure out what gives it its color. And if you don't..."
So, you're welcome to grab the notes, etc., and leave, along with the cook but that is not what Lamm wants.
What are you doing with the two goons? Are they tied up too? Let go? Stuffed in concrete shoes and dropped into the water?
Oh good, i had frogotten that so thanks for reminding us!
I think we tie them all up. They'll get free eventualy but it will give them some time to think adn hopefully do the sensible thing, which is get out of town.
If you want to ask Principle anything, just spoiler it and we'll continue any conversation there.
How do y'all want to handle the loot?
Our characters might not be so keen to share the loot fairly among all of us, but somehow we should :) Unless we establish a group stash...
Alchemists fire's for everyone, at least.
And I don't think shield can be made into potion, so that would be very valuable :)
Haha, then yes that shield potion would be very rare. It was late here when I posted :)
I was thinking, because loot gets tough to track in PBP unless someone commits to being on top of things, going with this system:
Everyone gets WBL at level up. You can keep any items you have and want to keep, and that counts as part of your WBL. Anything you don't keep, is assumed to be "sold" and replaced by whatever you want, up to WBL. So basically, every level up, you go shopping and get new stuff.
If we went with this system, and you level up in the middle of a dungeon or something like that, we'd probably wait until you were back in a space place to change out equipment.
It isn't perfect - it doesn't take into account things like consumables already spent and is a bit immersion breaking - but it does allow for gear customization and saves us all the headache of loot tracking.
Thoughts?
Haha, then yes that shield potion would be very rare. It was late here when I posted :)
I was thinking, because loot gets tough to track in PBP unless someone commits to being on top of things, going with this system:
Everyone gets WBL at level up. You can keep any items you have and want to keep, and that counts as part of your WBL. Anything you don't keep, is assumed to be "sold" and replaced by whatever you want, up to WBL. So basically, every level up, you go shopping and get new stuff.
If we went with this system, and you level up in the middle of a dungeon or something like that, we'd probably wait until you were back in a space place to change out equipment.
It isn't perfect - it doesn't take into account things like consumables already spent and is a bit immersion breaking - but it does allow for gear customization and saves us all the headache of loot tracking.
Thoughts?
Yes. The pluses hugely outweigh any possible minuses, IMO.
Out of town this weekend, will be back Monday. Going to Tijuana for my spouse's birthday. And the tacos. But mostly for the birthday.
Hope you had a nice trip.
I'm heading quite the opposite way, hoping to find myself on the shores of the Arctic Ocean next weekend.
Anywho, travelling for the next two weeks, and while I try to check online daily, please bot if needed.
Simplify bookkeeping sounds nice :)
I'll go with simplified bookkeeping for sure
Simplified bookkeeping sounds good. With automatic bonus progression we get half the normal money, right?
I'm with keping it simple :)
OK, simplified bookkeeping it is!
@Darius, yes it would be 1/2 WBL each level up. You'll get the other half automatically. Also, the artic, cool, cool. I've never been farther north than Helsinki and not further south than the tropics. But cold doesn't suit me, so I don't think I'll every make it to the artic :) Hope it is fun!
Today was catch-up, ran out of time. Post likely tomorrow.